remaining one hundred and sixty or seventy had
perished. It is true that some of those shared the fate of Magellan, and
were killed in the war undertaken in the Philippines to help their
allies.

The fate of Loaysa's armada was still more disastrous. A short
description of it will be given in the next chapter.

Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the period was one of great maritime
activity, and many unauthorised and clandestine voyages were also
performed, in the course of which Australia may have been discovered, for
the western and eastern coasts were charted before the year 1530, as we
shall see by and by.

CHAPTER II.

VOYAGES TO THE SPICE ISLANDS AND DISCOVERY OF PAPUA.

Whilst the Portuguese and Spaniards were fighting for the possession of
the "Spicery," as they sometimes called the Moluccas, the old dispute
about the line of demarcation was resumed in Spain and Portugal. It was
referred to a convocation of learned geographers and pilots, held at
Badajoz